Covers for tips and filters of tobacco products



Aug. 12, 1969 H- F. NEUHAUS COVERS FOR TIPS AND FILTERS OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 23, 1966 Inventor- H. Fj/Veuhaus ATTOILNEl-JS Aug. 12, 1969 N u s 3,460,959

COVERS FOR TIPS AND FILTERS OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS Filed Feb. 23, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l/ Fig.5

Inventor- H. F euh czus wilw x' ATTORNELfiS Patented Aug. 12, 1969 3,460,959 COVERS FOR TIPS AND FILTERS F TOBACCO PRODUCTS Hermann Friedrich Neuhaus, Mulheim (Ruhr), Germany,

assignor to Firma Hermann Wiederhold, Hilden, Rhineland, Germany, a firm of Germany Filed Feb. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 529,408 Claims priority, application Germany, Dec. 4, 1965, W 40,427 Int. Cl. A24d 1/06; B44d 1/08 U.S. Cl. 117-9 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cigar or cigarette tip consists of paper the outer surface of which has projecting particles of a very finely comminuted powder of shells of tropical fruits, such as cocoanuts, Brazil nuts and the like. These particles may be embedded in the paper itself and are then partly covered by a lacquer coating. However, the lacquer coating may be used as a carrier for these particles.

This invention relates to covers for tips and filters of tobacco products and refers more particularly to coatings applied to filters and tips of cigarettes, cigars and similar tobacco products.

Filter coverings and tips of cigarettes and cigars are usually made of paper or thin cardboard, unless natural cork or natural straw are used. When paper and cardboard are employed, they contain a filler and a coloring, for example, titanium dioxide, when a lightly colored or white tip is desired. However, when it is desired to provide filter coverings or tips having the appearance of cork, iron oxide, which may be irregularly distributed, may be used.

Papers used for filter coverings and tips must have substantially smooth outer surfaces due to the high operational speed of the machines and the small amount of friction required for their operation. This requirement can be easily attained by the use of inorganic coloring fillers, such as iron oxide red of many different types in colors ranging from light brown to dark brown, and also by the addition of titanium dioxide, since the primary particles of these substancesare of a size which is within the submicroscopic range.

It was found that the smoking public prefers filter coverings and tips, particularly those of cigarettes, which have to a greater extent the natural dry roughness characteristic of filter coverings and tips made of natural cork. This feature, hereinafter described as fine roughness has its substantial physical, as well as physiological bases.

An object of the present invention is the provision of filter coverings and tips the outer surfaces of which have the desired fine roughness.

Other objects will become apparent in the course of the following specification.

The present invention is based to a substantial extent on the surprising discovery that when very fine powder made from shells of tropical nuts, such as the flour of cocoanut shells, issued as a filler for coatings of filter coverings and tips of tobacco products, it is possible to provide a fine roughness of these coverings or coatings which can be varied at will.

The term coating is used herein to describe the outermost layer produced during the manufacture of a filter covering or a tip. This layer may consist of a paper previously treated by special lacquers, whereby the lacquer can contain as a filler a very fine powder of shells of tropical nuts. However, in accordance with the present invention it is also possible to coat subsequently an otherwise completed filter covering or a tip of tobacco products with a lacquer provided with a filler of the present invention. Furthermore, a paper for a filter covering or a tip may be produced the outer layer of which already contains a filling of the fine powder of shells of tropical nuts and such paper may be then coated with a suitable lacquer which does not have to contain such filling.

A most surprising eifect takes place in all these cases, namely, when using as a covering a layer of paper which was initially coated with a filling-containing lacquer prior to its application as well as when using a covering or tip which is coated as a final step of its manufacture with a lacquer containing a filling of the fine powder of shells of tropical fruits, and also when using paper the outer layer of which contains this powder of cocoanut shells and the like; this effect consists in that the peculiarly structured cellulosic texture of particles of shells of nuts sucks in a large part of the lacquer, so that despite a very firm binding of each particle in the outer surface of the coating, an extremely large number of non-lacquered statistically homogenously distributed surface points are produced which jointly provide the fine roughness required by the present invention. This fine roughness can be regulated within a wide range depending upon the extent of the filling. It will be different for tips of cigarettes than for tips of cigars and cigarillos. In all constructions the fine raw coatings have a pleasant dry sensation in the mouth, they are completely harmless as far as health is concerned and their tropical origin makes them resistant against effects of weather and bacteria.

The finely comminute powder of shells of tropical nuts can consist of powder produced from cocoanut shells, but other tropical nuts can be also used, including Brazil nuts, cuhuns, babassus, etc.

All these organic very finely comminuted powders are of very small size, they are in the microscopic range. Sizes of about up to 30 micron are useable. Consequently, these particles are somewhat larger than the inorganic pigments of iron oxide red and/ or titanium dioxide. Since the new organic filling of a quite special type of cellulose produced by fine comminution, is practically without coloring, it is not necessary to change the usual procedures concentration or the like is to be noticed.

As far as can be observed, the fine roughness results from the fact that larger shell portions of tropical nuts have a hardness which, as is well known, may be often compared with that of steel and when the shell portions are very finely comminuted this becomes a tough hardness which is combined with a certain flexibility.

As was established by actual experience, a further advantage of the filler of the present invention consists in that the comminuted shell can be colored in the usual manner by the dyes permitted for use in tobacco products, and that the new filler does not have any noticeable influence upon a uniform or a desired non-uniform distribution of inorganic dyes.

The coating of the present invention also differs in its appearance from prior art coatings, both in cross-section and in front view, as is apparent in a slight enlargement. The cross-section of the filter covering of the present invention differs from known coverings in that the filling projects non-uniformly from the outer surface layer. In front view the difference results from the use of the special fillers, in that the outer surface has long, narrow, nonuniformly outlined and closely located ripple-like sections, as compared to small enclosed edged sections of prior art coatings.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description when taken in connection with accompanying drawings showing by way of example and on a greatly enlarged scale preferred embodiments of the inventive idea.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a coating for filter coverings and tips.

FIGURE 2 is a section along the line II-II of FIG. 1.

FIGURE 3 is a section similar to that of FIG. 2, but illustrates a different embodiment.

FIGURE 4 is a front view of a coating known in prior art shown in a 25:1 enlargement.

FIGURE 5 is a similar microscopic view of a coating of the present invention, also in a 25:1 enlargement.

FIGURE 6 is a front view of a coating of the present invention in a 50:1 enlargement.

FIG. 1 shows a portion 1 of a filter covering or cigar or cigarette tip provided with a coating 2. The coating contains a very fine powder 3 of shells of tropical fruits, such as fine flour of cocoanut shells.

As best shown in FIG. 2, the particles 3 are firmly embedded in the layer '2, but most of the particles have portions 4 which project out of the layer 2.

FIG. 3 shows a filter covering 1 which already contains the very fine powder 3 of shells of tropical fruits, the powder being embedded in the covering in such manner that when an outer coating 2' consisting of lacquer is applied over the covering, portions 4 of many particles 3 will project out of the coating.

FIG. 4 shows a prior art covering containing enclosed insular sections 5 which extend longitudinally in nonuniform directions relatively to each other. By way of example, enclosed sections 5a extend from left to right (looking in the direction of FIG. 4), while the enclosed sections 5b extend substantially from top to bottom. The intermediate portions 6 located between the enclosed sections obviously amount to substantially more than 50% of the entire covering 2".

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a covering 2" of the present invention which is provided with elongated ripple-like sections 7 as well as intermediate portions 8- which are designated by broken lines in the drawing. It will be noted that these intermediate portions occupy a considerably smaller portion of the entire surface in relation to the ripple-like portions, as compared to prior art structure.

Precise microscopic investigations have shown that in the prior art coverings of the type shown in FIG. 4, the enclosed sections 5, 5a, 5b occupy from 30 to 35% of the entire surface of the covering, while the intermediate portions 6 occupy from 65% to 70%.

On the other hand, in coverings of the present invention shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the ripple-like sections 7 occupy from 60% to 70% of the entire surface, sometimes even more, while the intermediate portions 8 occupy on the average from 20% to 30% of the entire surface.

It is apparent that the enclosed sections 5, 5a, 5b of FIG. 4, as well as the ripple-like sections 7 of FIGS. 5

4 and 6 are responsible for the feeling of roughness, while the intermediate portions 6 (FIG. 4) and 8 (FIGS. 5 and 6) produce the smoothness of the outer surface.

A comparison of the prior art covering of FIG. 4 with the coverings of the present invention of FIGS. 5 and 6 proves that the embedding of the particles '3 in accordance with the present invention produces a much greater fine roughness of the outer surface. The effect of the fine roughness of the outer covering 2' resulting from the use of particles 3 is actually composed of two separate factors, namely, firstly, from the projection of many particles 3 from the covering 2 or coating 2, as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3, and, secondly, from a strong coherence of the particles, which can be described perhaps as a somewhat increased viscosity in the application-other conditions being the same. The final result is that instead of isolated closed sections clearly visible ripples are produced, as they are known in physics and in the dust technology. When other conditions are the same these ripples which extend transversely to the direction of application of the coating, occupy a much wider space and leave only very small smooth intermediate portions 8.

It is apparent that the examples described above have been given solely by way of illustration and not by way of limitation and that they are capable of many variations and modifications within the scope of the present invention. All such variations and modifications are to be included within the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A cover for tips and filters of tobacco products, said cover comprising a layer of paper, a layer of lacquer covering said layer of paper and particles of a very finely comminu-ted powder of shells of tropical fruits of cocoanuts, Brazil nuts, cuhuns, babassus or other tropical nuts, said particles being embedded in said layer of paper, at least most of said particles having portions projecting outwardly from said layer of lacquer.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 914,560 3/1909 Firth 117-16 1,153,574 7/1915 Rovira 131 12 X 1,244,148 10/1917 Wardell 1I716 2,033,791 3/1936 Sulzberger 131 12 2,755,197 7/1956 Estel 117 33 x 2,936,814 5/1960 Yakubik 117 9 FOREIGN PATENTS 15,988 11/1915 Great Britain.

WILLIAM D. MARTIN, Primary Examiner WILLIAM R. TRENOR, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

